Ice scraper

ABSTRACT

An ice and snow scraper adapted to be held in the hand of a user is disclosed. The scraper comprises a one-piece body having a hand-fitting handle section, a blade section, and an intermediate section. The blade section comprises a scraping surface and an oblique ice-deflecting surface. The intermediate section is curved so as to displace the blade section below the plane of the handle section. This scraper shape facilitates the application of force longitudinally of a surface to be scraped with the hand of the user remaining spaced from that surface while ice is deflected substantially away from the hand of the user and the blade is oriented at the optimum scraping angle.

This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 687,073 filed May 17,1976, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,040,140.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to scrapers, and more particularly to animproved, hand-held scraper for removing ice and snow from windshieldsand the like.

Recently, hand-held ice scrapers made of a flat, single piece ofpolymeric material such as polymethacrylate have become widelyavailable. These scrapers comprise an elongate body defining top andbottom surfaces spaced about 7 mm apart and defining a wide scraperblade at one end thereof comprising an oblique surface extending fromthe top surface toward the bottom surface and terminating in a scrapingedge. From the blade section, the body tapers inwardly defining opposedconverging edges. A pliable, polymeric sheath envelops the end remotefrom the scraping blade and covers about two-thirds of the linear extentof the ice scraper to serve as a hand grip.

It is a requirement for efficient scraping that such prior art scrapersbe held at an angle to the surface to be scraped with the scraping edgein contact therewith, and simultaneously be forced in a directionparallel to the surface. However, the design of these scrapers makes thesimultaneous application of the required forces difficult. In addition,the scraper's handle is too wide to enable the user to obtain a goodgrip, and during use, the user's fingers, gripping the scraper handle,are positioned for undesirable and potentially injurious contact withthe ice or windshield. Furthermore, the scraper design and the forces ofthe scraping action tend to throw ice or snow up onto the hand of theuser.

In addition to these manipulation problems, ice scrapers of the typedescribed also suffer from a short useful lifetime, owing to the fragilenature of the scraping edge. In this regard, where the oblique surfaceand the bottom surface meet, a thin, structurally inadequate scrapingedge is defined. During use, the edge becomes chipped, and thereafter,the scraper leaves streaks on the windshield surface.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention, an improved scraper of the unitarytype is provided which incorporates structural features to eliminate orgreatly diminish the effect of the drawbacks of prior art scrapers. Thescraper comprises a one-piece body having top and bottom surfaces. Atone end of the body is a scraping blade comprising a scraping edge and adeflecting surface extending obliquely between the scraper's top andbottom surfaces. At the extremity remote from the scraping blade, ahandle section is provided having a longitudinal axis and a shapedesigned to improve the grip that a user can obtain. A curvedintermediate section, the bottom surface of which is concave, connectsthe blade and the handle. The curvature of this intermediate sectionserves to elevate the handle section above the scraping blade andenables the user to apply force longitudinally of the windshield orother surface to be scraped, while automatically orienting the scraperblade at an optimum angle to the windshield. The body is widest at thescraping blade and narrows continuously toward the end remote therefrom.

With the scraper of the invention, there is much less likelihood thatthe hand of the user will contact the windshield, and ice issubstantially directed away from the hand of the user.

Preferably, the scraping blade is displaced about 16 millimeters fromthe bottom surface of the handle section and the handle section haslateral edges which incline relative to the longitudinal axis at anangle of convergence less than the angle of convergence of theintermediate section. This construction enables a relatively narrow,hand-fitting handle section to be provided together with a wide blade,without sacrificing the strength of the intermediate section.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the scraping bladefurther comprises a chip-resistant scraping surface which intersectswith the oblique, deflecting surface and defines an edge at itsintersection with the bottom surface. The scraping surface is orientedsuch that, when the scraper is used, the scraping surface makessubstantially a right angle with the windshield, or is tipped slightlytoward the handle portion to define an acute angle, e.g., between about70° and about 90°, at the intersection of the windshield surface and thescraping surface. Preferably, the angle of intersection between thebottom surface of the body and the scraping surface is between about 50°and about 90°, the angle of intersection between the scraping surfaceand deflecting surface is between about 130° and about 170°, and theangle of intersection between the deflecting surface and the top surfaceof the body is between about 120° and about 160°. The depth of thescraping surface is preferably between about 0.2 mm and about 1.2 mm.The provision of the scraping edge, especially when oriented on thescraper as described, not only tends to avoid chipping of the scrapingblade, but also improves the efficiency of the scraping action.

Accordingly, objects of the invention include the provision of aninexpensive hand-held scraper which is easier to use and more efficientthan the known prior art scrapers, enables the user to apply force in adirection longitudinally of the surface to be scraped whileautomatically engaging the surface at the proper angle, and throws iceand snow such that its tendency to contact the hand of the user isdiminished.

Another object of the invention is to provide a scraper having ahand-fitting grip which is designed such that the fingers of the user donot contact the surface to be scraped. A further object is to provide ascraper having a more efficient, chip-resistant blade.

These and other objects and features of the invention will be apparentto those skilled in the art from the drawing and from the followingdescription of some preferred embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an ice scraper embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a bottom plan view of the scraper of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side plan view of an embodiment of the scraper in use; and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary detailed view of the scraping blade of theembodiment shown in FIG. 3.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to the drawing, FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of theinvention which comprises a one-piece, polymethacrylate, molded body 10having a pair of substantially congruent top and bottom surfaces 24, 26,and defining a scraping blade 12, a handle section 14, and anintermediate section 16 extending therebetween. A polyvinyl chloridehand-grip 18 envelops the handle section 14 and may define a hole 20,useful for storing the scraper on a hanger.

As shown in FIG. 1, the scraping blade 12 comprises a deflecting surface28 which extends obliquely from the top surface 24 to the bottom surface26 and terminates in a scraping edge 30.

As shown in FIG. 2, the handle section 14 has a longitudinal axis 22 andmay incorporate a series of grooves 32. The provision of the groovesconserves material by removing it from a place where it is not neededfor structural strength, and facilitates mounting and removal of thehand-grip 18 by providing an anti-suction effect.

As also shown in FIG. 2, the scraper of the invention is widest at thescraping blade 12 and arcuately tapers inwardly and backwardly towardthe handle section 14 at intermediate section 16. The lateral edges 15of the handle section 14 are inclined relative to the axis 22 at anangle of convergence less than the angle of convergence of intermediatesection 16. This construction enables the provision of a wide bladetogether with a hand-fitting handle without sacrificing the strength ofthe intermediate portion. Of course, the edges of intermediate section16 could be tapered rectilinearly, but at a greater angle than the edgesof handle portion 14, to provide the same effect.

As can be seen from FIGS. 1 and 3, the intermediate section 16 is curvedto define a concave portion 34 of the bottom surface 26. This enablesthe user to grip hand-grip 18 and to apply a scraping forcelongitudinally of the surface to be scraped 36, e.g., a windshield, yetthe fingers on the hand of the user do not contact the windshieldsurface and the blade 12 is in an ideal orientation relative to surface36 for scraping ice. Further, the curvature of the top surface ofintermediate portion 16, in combination with deflecting surface 28,serves to throw ice being scraped in a direction resulting insignificantly less ice coming into contact with the hand of the user,i.e., tends to direct ice in the scraping direction. Preferably, thescraping edge 30 is displaced between about 12 mm and 20 mm, optimallyabout 16 mm, from the bottom surface 26 of handle section 14.

FIG. 3, in addition to illustrating the orientation of the scraper ofthe invention with respect to surface 36, also illustrates a secondembodiment of the scraper blade, indicated at 13, which can be seen ingreater detail in FIG. 4. In this embodiment of the blade, a scrapingsurface 52 is provided which intersects with the oblique deflectingsurface 28 and which defines an edge 30a where it intersects the bottomsurface 26. The scraping surface 52 and the bottom surface 26 intersectat an angle (c) between about 50° and 90°; the scraping surface anddeflection surface 28 intersect at an angle (b) between about 130° an170°; and the deflecting surface and top surface 24 intersect at anangle (a) between about 120° and 160°. The vertical dimension ofscraping surface 52 is between about 0.2 mm and 1.2 mm, preferably about0.7 mm. The provision of surface 52 has been found to increase theefficiency of ice removal and further to resist chipping such assometimes occurs at a conventional scraping edge. As indicated by angle(d) of FIG. 4, when the scraper is in use, scraping edge 52 is orientedat a right angle to surface 36, or tipped backwardly toward the handlesection 14 to define an acute angle of intersection with the scrapingsurface. Thus, angle (d) will be no greater than about 90°. FIG. 4 alsoshows that, when the scrape is in use, deflecting surface 28 is obliquerelative to the surface 36.

As will be obvious to those skilled in the art, a scraping surface ofthe type described may be provided by simply removing a triangularcross-sectional piece of material from an otherwise conventionalscraping edge, or preferably, may be added as additional material moldedto the bottom surface of the scraper as illustrated in FIG. 4.

Although the invention has been described in connection with a preferredembodiment thereof, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the artthat additions, modifications, substitutions and deletions notspecifically described may be made without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A scraper for removing ice from a surface to bescraped, said scraper comprising a body having top and bottom surfaces,said body defining:a scraping blade at one end thereof comprisingadeflecting surface extending obliquely from said top surface toward saidbottom surface, and a scraping edge; a handle section remote from saidone end located at the extremity of the body of said scraper, saidhandle section having a longitudinal axis; and an intermediate sectioncurved to definea convex portion of said top surface extending betweensaid blade and said handle section, projecting below said axis, andbeing substantially free of obstructions to the removal of icetherefrom, and a concave portion of said bottom surface extendingbetween said blade and handle section below said axis; said scraperbeing operable during scraping to permit force to be appliedlongitudinally of a surface to be scraped with the hand of the user,when gripping said handle section, remaining substantially spaced fromthe surface to be scraped,with ice thrown by the deflecting action ofsaid deflecting surface and said convex portion of said top surfacebeing substantially deflected away from said hand of said user, and withsaid deflecting surface being oblique relative to said surface to bescraped, said handle section, on lateral edges thereof, providing agenerally wedge shaped handle configuration operable to progressivelyresist pushing force imposed on said handle section and directed towardsaid scraping blade; and said handle section being grippable on theunderside thereof adjacent a free end of said handle section.
 2. Thescraper as set forth in claim 1 wherein said convex portion of said topsurface is progressively more steeply inclined away from saidlongitudinal axis of said handle section and is operable to provide thegreatest resistance to movement of ice over the top surface of saidscraper adjacent said scraping edge.